by Amy Cross
“No!” I yell, rushing forward again, only to be held back.
As I struggle to get free, I watch the spot where Larisa disappeared beneath the surface, but now there's no sign of her. Even if she's a really good swimmer, I don't see how she'd be able to survive with all those rocks. These people are killing her, and nobody even seems to care. They're all just watching the lake as if they expect some kind of miracle to happen. I pull this way and that, determined to go and help, but a moment later two more hands grab hold of me and I realize that I'm simply not strong enough to get free.
She must have been underwater for at least a minute and a half.
“Get her out of there!” I scream, with tears in my eyes. “She's drowning!”
Still, nobody moves a muscle, and I seem to be the only one who cares that someone's drowning out there. I try everything I can think of to slip free so that I can go and save Larisa, but finally I'm pushed down onto my knees. Powerless to do anything, I watch the lake and wait for some sign that Larisa has made it back to the surface, but finally I realize that at least three minutes must already have passed.
“I think we have our answer,” Maurice says calmly. “It seems the unfortunate young lady was not a witch.”
Looking up at him, I see that there's a faint smile on his lips.
“You're all murderers!” I sneer.
“We're witch-finders, my dear,” he replies. “And now it's time to see what you're made of.
“No!” I yell as I'm dragged along the jetty, toward the woman at the end who's already taking rocks from her bag. “Let go of me! You can't do this!”
“The first one was never really a suspect,” one of the men says. “This one's supposed to be the witch.”
I'm hauled up onto my knees, and rocks are quickly pushed into my pockets. A moment later, a rope is tied around my neck, with more rocks hanging from the sides, and then the rope is pulled tight.
“There,” the man says, “we wouldn't want you slipping free, would we?”
Shoved right to the end, I look down into the water. I can't see beneath the surface, but Larisa's still down there somewhere. There's no way she can possibly have survived this long, but at the same time I can't help holding out hope that somehow none of this is real. Dropping to my knees, I feel the rocks already weighing me down, and for a moment silence falls all around me.
I can get out of this. I just need to -
Suddenly I'm pushed over the edge. I scream as I hit the water, but the rocks immediately start pulling me down. I frantically try to get rid of them, but I'm already trapped in an icy darkness that's making it hard for my hands to move at all. Seconds later I bump against the bottom of the lake, and I find that I can't push myself back up. Panicking furiously, I try to pull the rope from around my neck, but I'm already starting to get water in my lungs. I look up, and I can just about see the faintest light from the lake's surface, yet the world seems too far away now.
I try to scream. Bubbles rush from my mouth as more water fills my lungs, and finally a vast white light fills my mind.
Chapter Twenty-Seven
“Keep walking,” a muffled voice says, as I'm shoved hard in the small of my back. “You want my advice? Don't look left or right. There's nothing you can do for them, you'll only end up making yourself feel worse.”
Blinking, I realize that I'm walking along a narrow, dark corridor. There are cell doors on either side, and when I look to my left I catch a brief glimpse of a human figure sitting slumped in the shadows. I slow to get a better look, only to get pushed forward and forced to keep walking.
“Where am I?” I ask, stopping and turning.
As soon as I see the man who was behind me, I take a step back. He looks like some kind of soldier, and he's wearing a large gas mask that covers his entire face. After a moment he raises a gun and nudges me in the chest.
“Are you going to keep doing this?” he asks. “I'm here to take you to the office, and that's it. Why do you always have to try to have a conversation? Every damn time.”
He nudges me again, harder this time.
“Move!”
“But -”
“Move!” he snarls again, and this time he shoves me so hard that I almost fall back.
Turning, I start walking, but I can't help looking to my right as I pass another cell. This time I don't see anyone, but I hear a faint growling sound coming from the shadows, and after a moment I see something moving in the cell's far corner. Before I can see the creature properly, I move past the cell and onto the next. Whatever that thing was, it didn't look human at all, it looked like some kind of hunched-over mass of hair and muscle.
I look ahead, and I see some words stenciled in white on the wall.
“Chaos Gear,” I whisper. “What does that mean? Where are you taking me?”
There's no answer, and I'm starting to realize that this guy doesn't seem very talkative. I can see a door at the far end of the corridor, but a moment later I hear a scream ring out from somewhere high above. Stopping, I look up and see lots of metal pipes running along the ceiling, and the scream continues for a few more seconds before fading to nothing.
“That's none of your concern,” the guy behind me says, shoving me forward again.
“How did I get here?” I ask, as I start to realize that I don't remember anything before a couple of minutes ago. I know who I am, I remember my life in Middlewych, but somehow that feels like a whole other world now.
And as I look at the door ahead, I suddenly realize that I've been here before. More than once. This whole place feels both familiar and unfamiliar at the same time, and finally I stop and reach out to grab the bars on either side of the corridor. I need to steady myself, and now I can feel something in my mouth, getting larger and larger.
“This is getting tiresome, Mackenzie,” the guy says, pushing me again, but this time I hold onto the bars. “There's no point delaying things. He's waiting.”
“Who is?” I whisper, as cold, dirty water starts dribbling from my mouth and splattering against the floor.
“Who do you think?” the guy says. “It's -”
Suddenly I fall back, coughing and spluttering, and my eyes open as the entire world tips and tilts around me. Startled, I find that I'm not in the corridor at all; instead, I'm in the lake just outside town, and it takes a few seconds before I remember that I was pushed in here. I must have passed out when I hit the bottom, but now – even as the rocks in my pockets weigh me down – I find that I've somehow come back up to the surface. I look around for a moment, and then I start swimming back to the shore.
Finally, I drop to my knees and crawl out of the lake, before rolling onto my side and coughing out some more of the water. A few seconds later, hearing footsteps coming toward me, I turn and see Maurice getting closer.
“Well,” he says with a smile, “isn't this interesting? The witch floats.”
“I'm not a witch!” I gasp breathlessly.
“Is that so?” he replies. “You seem to have been able to float, despite the rocks and stones that weigh you down. How else would you explain that?”
“You're an idiot!” I splutter, struggling to my feet. As I do so, I can already feel the rocks pulling me back down. They're so heavy, I can barely even stand. “There's no such thing as witches! What did you do to Larisa? Where is she?”
“I'm afraid there was no chance to save her,” he replies, “but since she was not a witch, we know that she is safe in the warm embrace of our master. You, on the other hand, have displayed your abilities for all to see. You can deny it as much as you want, but we all saw you crawl out of that lake.”
“That wasn't witchcraft!” I tell him.
“Then what was it?”
“It was...”
I try to work out exactly how I made it out of the lake, but I can't come up with an answer. I start frantically pulling the rocks and stones out of my pockets, but there are so many of them, and finally I try to remove the rope from around my
neck. I'm weighed down so hard, I'm almost sinking into the mud on the lake's shore, so I really don't know how I managed not to drown.
“I'm not a witch,” I stammer, as two men come over and grab my arms. I try to push them away, but they're too strong. “Let go of me!” I yell. “I told you, I'm not a witch!”
“You will be dealt with in the traditional manner,” Maurice replies, “and until then you will be detained. We all know that there's only one way to kill a true witch.”
“What are you talking about?” I shout as I'm dragged away from the jetty. “You're all insane! Why are you letting this happen?”
Nobody from the crowd says anything. They're all just watching, as if they're totally fine with the fact that Larisa was murdered. I try to twist and get free, and then a moment later I see that I'm being taken to some kind of cage with metal bars on its sides. Before I have a chance to struggle again, I'm thrown into the cage and then the door is slammed shut. I rush forward, trying to get out, but already a bolt is being slid across, and I watch as a padlock is put in place. When I try to get to my feet, I find that the cage is too small, and I bang my head on the bars at the top.
“What are you going to do to me?” I shout as Maurice comes closer.
He smiles as he stops in front of me.
“This can't be happening,” I stammer, as I shake the bars in a desperate attempt to somehow get out of here. “I'm dreaming. That has to be it, right? This is all some kind of big, sick nightmare.”
“It might be a nightmare,” Maurice replies, “but I can assure you, you're wide awake.”
“Where's my brother?” I ask.
“Your brother has seen the light,” he explains. “No family can harbor a witch in their midst, not unless they want to burn right alongside her.”
“Burn?”
“Surely you realize your fate by now,” he continues. “Since time immemorial, witches have been dealt with in the exact same way. Annie Mackenzie, you needn't worry about this cage being too uncomfortable, for you won't be in there for much longer. I have people working on the bonfire now. When the sun has set, we will wait until midnight. And then, for your sins as a freak of nature, and for your practice of witchcraft, you will be burned at the stake.”
Chapter Twenty-Eight
“Damn it!” I hiss, as I feel a jarring pain in my shoulder. I've been trying to smash the cage's door open for hours now, but I swear it hasn't budged at all. “Come on, there has to be some way out of here.”
The sun has gone down. Soon, midnight will arrive. I'm running out of time. I was so sure that I'd be able to somehow force the door open, but the padlock isn't budging.
Hesitating for a moment, I try to think of some other way out of here.
“Hey.”
Startled, I turn and see that a figure has come closer to the cage. Squinting in the darkness, I finally recognize my brother's face.
“Stevie!” I whisper. “What took you so long? Get me out of here!”
I wait, but he simply stares at me.
“Stevie!”
“I can't, Annie,” he replies. “Look, I know this is difficult for you, but you're not the only one. When they said you were a witch, I didn't believe it, not at first, but now...”
“I'm not a witch!” I snap. “How can I be a witch? Witches don't exist!”
“You didn't sink in the lake.”
“That was... I don't know why that happened the way that it did, but I'm not a witch!” I wait for him to see sense. “Stevie,” I continue, “I'm your sister. You saw what they did to Larisa, are you seriously going to just stand there and let them burn me to death?”
“Maurice says that a family that harbors a witch is -”
“Nobody gives a crap about Maurice!” I yell, shaking the bars again. “Why are you suddenly following this Maurice guy?”
“Everyone follows Maurice. Everyone listens to him.”
“Since when? He's a goddamn librarian, nobody pays any attention to librarians!”
“Maurice is a respected member of the community,” Stevie replies, “and -”
“He's never been respected,” I say, interrupting him. “Stevie, I don't care what he's told you, you can't possibly be going to let this happen. Just open the cage door. I won't even tell anyone that you did it. We'll let them think that I escaped. They'll probably assume that I used some kind of witchy power to get out of here.”
Sighing, I actually can't believe that I just said those words. This whole situation is crazy.
“Stevie, please,” I continue. “Please!”
He hesitates, but I'm starting to think that I might be getting through to him. He half turns to look away, as if he's checking that nobody is nearby, and then finally he looks back at me. Slowly, as if he's uncertain, he reaches out toward the padlock.
“Stevie, don't,” a familiar voice says, and I suddenly see that somebody else is here, standing a little further back.
“Mom?” I whisper, leaning closer to the bars. “Is that you?”
“Come on, Stevie,” she says, refusing to look directly at me. “You wanted to say goodbye. You've done that, I think. Now it's time to go back to the others and prepare for the ceremony.”
“Mom, what are you doing here?” I shout, with tears in my eyes. “Mom, it's me! You have to get me out of here! These people are out of their minds!”
“Stevie, come away from there,” she continues, holding a hand out toward my brother. “Let's go. There's only half an hour left before midnight.”
“I'm sorry,” Stevie says, stepping away from the cage and then turning to walk off with her. He glances back at me, but Mom puts a hand on his arm to make sure that he doesn't stop.
“Mom!” I yell, unable to believe that she's actually part of this madness. “Come back! Mom, you can't leave me here! Mom, please!”
Breaking down in a fit of tears, I suddenly feel completely helpless. How can Mom and Stevie have both abandoned me to die? I want to believe that this is some kind of trick, that they'll come back at any moment. None of this makes sense but, as I watch the fires down by the shore and see figures milling about at the base of some kind of large mound, I realize that these people are serious. Even now, they're placing some kind of pole on top of the bonfire, and it's clear that at some point in the next half hour they're going to tie me to that thing and then...
They're going to burn me alive.
“Mom,” I whimper, as I slump down against the bottom of the cage and feel a wave of hopelessness. “Why are you letting them do this to me?”
I put my head in my hands as more tears run down my face. I should be trying desperately to find another way out of here, but I've exhausted all my options. There's no way to break out of this cage, and even my own family are willing to let me die. I need to come up with a better plan, but right now all I can think about is Mom's face as she walked away with Stevie. It was as if she genuinely doesn't care about the fact that I'm going to die.
Suddenly, hearing footsteps approaching, I look up just as a guy drops to his knees next to the cage's door. He's wearing a Moolio's uniform, but I don't recognize him from work.
“Get ready to run,” he whispers, as he fiddles with the padlock. “I'm sorry it took me so long to get here, but I needed some way to get this damn thing open.”
Scrambling to the front of the cage, I watch as he inserts some kind of pin into the padlock. His Moolio's uniform even has the name of our Middlewych location on the front, but I swear I haven't seen him before.
A moment later the padlock springs loose, and the guy pulls the door open before reaching inside and helping me out.
“They're gonna notice any moment,” he says as he leads me around the cage and off into the forest. “If they catch up to us, keep running and don't look back. I'll find some way to deal with them. Of course, this'd be a lot easier if it was a full moon.”
“Who are you?” I ask.
“What do you mean?”
“Who are you?�
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“You're kidding, right? You seriously don't remember me? Again?”
“You don't work at the restaurant,” I reply. “I'd have seen you. Did you steal that uniform?”
“You gave me this uniform,” he says. “Okay, fine, I get it, they wiped your memory real good. Not for the first time, either. I thought eventually you'd remember me, but it's not a problem. I'm not offended, I swear. I mean, maybe you could have at least some vague hint that you've seen me before, but -”
Voices starts shouting in the distance. Stopping, I look back, but the guy forces me to start running again.
“It's okay,” he says breathlessly, “the others are waiting beyond the edge of town. We'll be safe once we get to them!”
“Others? What others?”
“They really did a number on your memory, huh?”
“What -”
“They're catching up!” Stopping, he turns to me. “Do you remember the old railroad bridge on the eastern side of town? The one that goes over the river?”
“Yes, but -”
“That's where they are. I can deal with this, I can slow them down, but you have to get to the bridge. Do you promise me that you'll go straight there?”
“Why would -”
“Go!” he yells, pushing me hard and then turning to race back the way we just came.
Before I can call out to him again, he's out of sight. I can hear the voices getting closer, however, and a moment later I spot flashlight beams cutting through the forest. Figuring that I have to try to trust the one person who's actually tried to help me tonight, I turn and run. After just a moment, however, I slam straight into a tree. Instead of feeling any pain, however, I stumble and watch as the entire tree topples over and crashes to the ground.
“What the...”
As the voice get louder and closer, I stare at the bizarrely weak tree for a moment. Its so-called 'roots' seem to have been barely attached to the ground at all. A few seconds later, hearing the voices still coming this way, I start running again.
Chapter Twenty-Nine